Dario Argento to Make First English-Language Movie in 15 Years

Contrary to the report, however--and to oft-repeated accounts elsewhere on the 'net--it is not his first. That would be 1985's Phenomena, which helped launch the career of my beloved Jennifer Connelly. Argento also helmed the full-on Hollywood production Trauma in 1993.

The film will be appropriately entitled Giallo, a reference to the Italian thriller/slasher movie genre of the same name. The tale of a serial killer and the detective who is desperate to stop him, it will star Ray Liotta, Vincent Gallo and Dario's lovely daughter Asia, pictured here (Madonna mia!)

Argento's star has been on the rise in the U.S. lately thanks to Jenifer and Pelts, two episodes he made for the Showtime Masters of Horror TV series. He is best known for the 1977 blood-soaked classic Suspiria, featuring the hardest-to-watch death scene in horror history (two words: razor wire).

If you look closely at the lip movements, you will see that Argento's films tend to be shot largely in English, even when they are made in Italy, in order to increase the export value. Argento once called English the "Esperanto of the Italian Film industry" or something like that.

I always thought that different actors spoke different languages in the same film - even in the same scene sometimes. Look at some of the scenes with David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi in Deep Red, for example....

Most Italian movies, especially during the 1960s-1980s, were shot in multiple languages on set, and later everything was redubbed. Most of the time, they weren't even recording the sound on the set--as a cost-saving measure. Every bit of dialogue was done in post. That's why even the actors who are speaking in their own language sometimes looked dubbed.

Which horror film *should* be remade?

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I've been fascinated with horror ever since my parents let me watch The Exorcist at 8 years old (what were they thinking??) and I ran up to my bed screaming when Linda Blair's eyes rolled into the back of her head.Although it often gets a bad rap from "mainstream" critics and audiences alike, horror has often been the most creative and vibrant movie genre of all, from Nosferatu to Saw. Some of the finest motion pictures ever made are part of the horror genre, including Frankenstein, Psycho, The Shining and my personal all-time favorite, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.This blog is the culmination of my 25-year love affair with all things blood and guts--so check back here often for news and opinion on the world of horror. And remember...